There is a bit of everything at Lome voodoo fetish market; there is what you expect, like cows’ head bones or horses hair tails, and there is what you don’t expect, like dead cats’ heads, or even what you have never seen in life, like cobras’ or antelopes’ heads. Once you enter it, you enter the world of white magic and the spiritual world of Togo, this tiny unknown sweet piece of Earth in Mother Africa’s heart.

A stand selling all sorts of animal skins

Voodoo is one of the official religions of Togo, but it’s not only this, it has to do with the Togolese daily world, with its spiritual side as well as with its medical and superstitious one. At the beginning you don’t know how to take it, as the border between credence and superstition is so thin and unknown at your Western eyes that it is easy to get lost.

Cats´, dogs’, monkey’s and many more animals heads are sold at the market

Snakes heads and skins

As soon as you step in the market, you are surrounded by dead animals heads of all kinds and facing such a large amount of weird stuff is definitely not scary but impressive. There are all kinds of animals on the stands: dogs, cats, monkeys, cobras, crocodiles, cows, antelopes, rats, horses…some of them look like prehistoric, some are unknown, there are horns of bulls and many more that I couldn’t even recognize, then there are round stones used to cure asthma ad flues, there are horses pony tails used to protect the houses and the faous voodoo dolls of the tradition.

Voodoo dolls

Pigs heads

Everything is for sale, but everything is also for tourists. In order to make one of these “gadgets” work, you have to go to the market chief and get a spell on it. You tell him your problem or wish and he is going to find the right talisman for you. Useless to say the market chief is the main character of the entire place, he is almost a mystique figure in there, someone appealing and mysterious, his role is of a spiritual guide and doctor, magician and counsellors, a wise man whose “job” is to find the right solution to your wishes.

Voodoo market chief

His role is handed down from generation to generation, from father to son, it’s something that has to do with the magic of this place, of Africa, of its hidden powers linked to things that are so simple like a stone. I got the chance to enter the house of the market chief and attended a talisman protection spell, where he made a protection spell on the talisman I got. Forget the magic rituals you are imagining, the ones of the movies of just of your imagination, and think rather of rituals made of simple gestures, linked to the power of the spirits who protect our houses and our lives and happiness. The chief showed different talisman and described the different meaning and usage for all of them, then he asked me to hold the talisman I had chosen in my hands and pronounce my name 3 times. After that, he pronounced the bless and put it around my neck. It’s hard to believe in this with our sceptic Western eyes, I know, but around here Voodoo has its inner power, it is the medicine and the religion of these people, its ancient history is linked to them and this place and for centuries it has been the only medicine existing or the only remedy to the human sorrows and pain.

Monkeys heads. none of the animals looked like have had a peaceful death

For those who are completely sceptic, if you speak with white people living around here, you will certainly find some of them with a story linked to voodoo. They will tell you they may not believe in it, but for sure they got a spell that worked once in their life. It can have to do with their health, with thieves in their house, with anything they previously lost…its something that goes as much in deep with this place, with Africa, its soul that, believe it or not, you finish to accept it at the end.

Thor’s face says it all!

I have always been fascinated by white magic, black magic, witchcrafts and magic in general, I read a lot about it and you can well imagine how this place has been interesting for me. Not that I fully believe in it, but I think Nature has such a huge unknown power that what we know about it and what we feel is only a small part of its reality. Here, in Africa, as I said earlier, you have the feeling that everything, including the human being, is much ancient and probably wiser, and the connection these people have with this Natural power may be stronger than ours.

Even the turtles!

You cannot stop wondering and get fascinated by this place. The voodoo market is a place that links Africa of today whit its roots, with its spiritual ancient world, it gives a glimpse of the unknown world that surrounds these people and their lives, it probably helps to understand why the world down here seems much bigger and deep than anywhere else. It’s weird to see how the Catholicism that has down a lot to gain the power of the spiritual world of Africa in the last few centuries, couldn’t touch this world yet, as this is the world of the Africans, it is part of their roots, of who they are and, believe in it or not, you just cannot avoid to meet it and get charmed by it.